Mississippi State's loss even more embarrassing after Gators still fire Billy Napier

Mississippi State football dropped to 4-3 on the season, 0-3 in the SEC, on Saturday with a 23-21 loss on the road to a struggling Florida Gators team. It was the 15th-straight SEC loss the Bulldogs have suffered, the longest conference losing streak of any team in the country, and it happened in demoralizing fashion, with QB Blake Shapen throwing a game-losing interception in the final seconds while the Bulldogs were in field goal range.

On Sunday, the winning team from Saturday's matchup decided to rub some salt in the wounds of the loser...

Despite getting a win over Mississippi State, Florida still decided to fire head coach Billy Napier the next day. In the days leading up to Saturday's game, reports surfaced that Florida AD Scott Stricklin had begun conversations with Gator boosters about the future of the football program. The expectation was that with a loss to the Bulldogs, Napier's tenure would certainly be over.

But there was also talk that even with a win, Florida could still choose to move on. Napier's tenure has been a massive disappointment, the present season has been ugly, and beating Mississippi State at home wouldn't change that. And with the Gators now on a bye week, the timing would make sense, especially with a major job in Penn State already on the market.

Sure enough, Napier is out in Gainesville, and now the loss to the Gators looks even worse for Mississippi State.

Firing a coach after beating Mississippi State has become a trend

Unfortunately for Mississippi State, this is nothing new. As On3's Robbie Faulk pointed out, Billy Napier is now the third head coach since 2020 to be fired immediately after beating Mississippi State, the others being Auburn's Gus Malzahn in 2020 and Texas A&M's Jimbo Fisher in 2023.

It's not exactly a good look for the program that a win over the Bulldogs is too insignificant for other SEC athletic departments to consider not firing a coach they want gone. It's quite embarrassing actually, and it's an indictment of where Mississippi State is presently at in football.

And of course it's an indictment on HC Jeff Lebby as well. To be coming off the bye and not have his team, and specially the offense (which he is ultimately responsible for), ready to play a complete and clean game reflects poorly on him. Then you consider that your opponent has struggled all year and has a coach set to be fired immediately afterwards, and the result becomes especially ugly. This loss is going to hang over the heads of Lebby and the Bulldogs for quite some time.